Track-clamp



1. WHITAKER.

TRACK CLAMP.

APPLLcATloN msn SEPT. s. 192|.

vmnoz atroz mm1 Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

PATENT OFFICE.

JACK WHITAKER, 0F FORT DODGE, IOWA.

TRACK-CLAMP.

Application led September 8, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.

Be it known that l JACK WHITAKER, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Fort Dodge, in the county of YWebster and State of lbowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in Track-Clamps, or' which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, relatively inexpensive and eHicient means for holding guard and track rails in the proper relative positions on curves, adjacent to switch rails and entrances to sidings and the like; and with this object in view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a pre-- terred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of a clamp embodying the invention applied in the oper-v ative position to the rails.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the saine on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

The track and guard rails 10 and 11 are held at the desired transverse distance apart not only by the contact of the rail ieet 10am 11a but by' a spacing sleeve 12 extending between the webs of the rails in a plane sutliciently below the heads or tread surfaces of the rails to avoid any possibility of contact of the wheel flangesrtherewith and yet sufticiently above the plane of the rail bases or feet to prevent inward tilting movement ot' the rail or any tendency of either rail to tilt toward the other, while engaged with the outer sides of the rails are jaws 13 and 1dconnected and drawn into clamping relation with the rails by means of a bolt 15 extending through said jaws and the rail webs and also extending longitudinally through said sleeve 12 for holding the latter Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

serial No. 499,218. l

in its proper relation with the rails. In the construction illustrated the bolt is fitted with an adjusting nut 15a and the jaws are of angular form with their lower terminals notched as shown at 16 to engage the outer edges of the rail bases or feet and are inturned at their upper ends to form ears 17 which bear against the outer sides of the rail heads. lt will be observed Lthat one ot' the clamps carries a screw 18 which is arranged in terminal contact with the web of the guard rail to resist lateral pressure of the rail in the direction of the jaw 13. The

screw 18 being disposed just above and adjacent to the bolt 15, lateral pressure on the guard rail 1l in the direction of the jaw 13 will be communicated to the latter through the screw 18 as well as through the ear 17 with the result that the transverse strain on the jaw will be reduced because of being applied to the jaw not only at its extremity but at an intermediate point between the extremity and the fulcrum point where the bolt 15 passes through the 'Having described the invention7 what is claimed as new and useful is A track clamp for securingv track and guard rails in their proper relative positions. having a spacing sleeve interposed between the webs of said rails, jaws having terminal bearings upon the head and foot or base members respectively of said rails, and a bolt transversely connecting the jaws and estending through the rail webs and said spacing sleeve, the jaws being provided at their lower ends with seats for engagement with the outer edges of the rail feet and at their upper ends with inturned ears for contact with the outer surfaces of the rail heads.

In testimony whereof I affix my si nature.

JACK WHITA ER. 

